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The Last of Us viewers have been left in tears after the latest episode aired this evening (Monday 30 January), saying it’s the ‘saddest thing’ they’ve ever seen on TV. And no, we’re not exaggerating.
WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE LAST OF US EPISODE THREE AND REFERENCES TO SUICIDE
The new instalment of The Last of Us follows Bill and Frank, two characters who were relatively minor in the original game of the same name, but have been thrust into the limelight with their own grand love story.
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Bill, played by Nick Offerman, is a survivalist who lives alone in his mother’s home, having turned the deserted neighbourhood into a makeshift fortress surrounded by high fences designed to keep everyone out - the Infected, raiders, you name it.
But his solitude is thrown into the air when Frank (The White Lotus star Murray Bartlett) arrives and sweeps him off his feet, meaning it isn’t long before the pair are living out the pandemic together in genuine bliss. Sure, the dangers are still there, but they have each other, and it is nothing short of beautiful.
However, after fast-forwarding a few years, we see that Frank’s health is rapidly declining thanks to a degenerative neuromuscular disorder.
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The damning diagnosis eventually prompts the couple to dramatically take their own lives, chinning their favourite bottle of red that’s been laced with a fatal dose of an unspecified white powder.
From heartwarming scenes of the pair picking fresh strawberries to their final dinner before curling up on the bed to die, the episode has proven to be the biggest emotional rollercoaster many people will ever see - with fans saying it’s the saddest thing they’ve ever watched.
One tweeted: “The third episode of The Last Of Us was potentially the saddest episode of anything I have ever watched in my life.”
Someone else said: “The Last of Us was just about the saddest thing I’ve ever seen and I think it’ll haunt me forever.”
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A third wrote: “The Last of Us episode 3 was one of the saddest pieces of entertainment I have ever watched holy s**t.”
A fourth added: “That last of us episode was the saddest thing I have ever seen in my entire life.”
But beneath the undeniable anguish, viewers also found a great deal of beauty in the episode, praising its depiction of a middle-aged gay relationship with tenderness, poignancy and even humour.
“Older queer love stories are never shown in media!!!!” one tweeted, adding: “And The Last of Us created one of the most beautiful depictions of love and devotion and growing old together I can’t stop thinking about it, it was perfection.”
Featured Image Credit: HBO/SkyTopics: TV And Film